Attraction Spotlight: Cafejian's Carousel

If you’re in the St. Paul area and you’re looking for something fun and interesting to do, you should head over to Como Park and visit the Cafesjian’s Carousel. You can take the whole family on a relaxing carousel ride. Tickets are only $2 each, so even families on the tightest budgets could afford to take a ride.

The Carousel was first built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1914. The carvings and original paintwork on the Carousel was done by German immigrants that were employed by the company. Back in 1990, restoration work began on the Cafesjian’s Carousel in an effort to return it to its original beauty. The restoration was successfully completed in 2000.

Much effort was put into making sure that the Carousel maintained as much of its original paintwork as possible. The 68 horses and the two chariots on the Carousel still have most of their original paint. Damaged areas of the horses were repaired; however, normal wear was left alone to show the history and the age of the Carousel.

Horses that had been badly burned in a fire in 1939 were even able to be repaired and restored with a lot of hard work and research to make sure they looked as they would have looked in 1914 when the Carousel was first built.

The platform of the carousel is 50 feet across and the upper rim of the carousel measures at 54 feet. It weight 30 tons and every bit of that weight is supported by the pole in the center of the carousel.

The carousel can accommodate one wheelchair at a time and there is a rolling ramp that makes the platform accessible to wheelchairs. One of the chariots has been modified so that a wheelchair can sit where the front seat of the chariot should be.